Market Tavern — Restaurant in Stockton

What dishes come to mind when one thinks of New American cuisine? Chicken Pot Pie? Beef Stroganoff? Corn bread? Spaghetti and meatballs?

No? I didn't think so. That will change after you eat at Market Tavern. They have all those things (and so much more).

For starters, the ambience is very subdued and intimate, yet comfortable and spacious. The dim, warm lighting tells you quite quickly that is a great place to get a cocktail and savour your time. The walls are mostly black with appropriate accents, and this has the effect of making you feel as if you've escaped the outside world. The space seems almost infinte and like it exists outside time and space.

This is, of course not true. There is noise and bustling and life all around, most notably in the open kitchen where you can watch the kitchen staff put work in. They must be working because the food is somehow quite fresh and well cooked, yet never slow. Orders come out relatively quick and it leads me to believe they know the menu backwards and forwards, and that a great deal of thought has been put into the entire process.

I know, I know, you've heard this before. But hear me out. For starters, this place is known for their Old Fashioned. It is simply excellent, with the bitterness hidden in plain sight, right under your...well, nose. The cocktails are mixed well, allowing flavors to layer and mingle without competing to distract you from your experience. You can also get an old fashioned topped with smoke, and its worth experiencing once just for the hell of it.

That cornbread I mentioned previously is a good example of what I found enjoyable about my entire experience here: the outside is lightly browned, with a subtle firmness while the inside is soft, warm, fluffy, but most importantly, it doesn't just crumble all over the place when you try to eat it. This is the downfall of your average cornbread: leathery outside, crumbly enough inside to convince you that you're actually eating Taco Bell in your car and the cheese is just everywhere. And that's the worst. But not this cornbread, it comes paired with a honey chili whip, and it is piping hot when it hits the table. An excellent starter.

The rest of the food I mentioned is what caught my eye. I think of myself as a bit of a down home American eater: my favorite meals are things your grandmother from the old world labored over from scratch. That's beef stroganoff and chicken pot pie. That's why I have to go back.

But that isn't what I ate. I had a Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich, ludicrously hot (they offer it spicy and ludicrously spicy). It is a testament to good fried chicken. The bread, the slaw, simply wonderful. But the chicken and its breading, now that's the stuff: an outstanding, but not impenetrable crunch on the breading, free from the weight of excess oil or some weirdly mixed batter. No, no, this is good fried chicken. And the heat scale? Order ludicrously hot if you eat anything above about 5k scoville units (Secret Aardvark territory).

The salmon my other half got was beautifully cooked, with a perfect ombre of pink, with an outside of beautifully seared but not over cooked in the slightest. Just a consistent and well tempered piece of salmon. The sides are excellent, and their virtues you can probably guess.

If you like pizza, they appear to have a brick pizza oven in the kitchen, and your wish is probably something they could take care of.

Of course, dessert. Just get the cheesecake if you've never had it. Every layering comes together well, and once again, the crust is...

My family and I have been regulars at the Market Tavern for many years - simply because we like their healthy and organic foods. Unfortunately, I will have to take a break from going to the Market Tavern, because of Manager Jeff, who made it very clear to my family and me that we are not valued customers.

We usually go to the Tavern on weekend mornings and most of the time we enjoy the brunch and good service. The last time we arrived with family and friends it was about 11:00 am, and since it was busy, we were seated outside. The outside seating was ok, however, it was very dark, and there was nothing to look around at, since their outside drapes / curtains were pulled down all the way. This created an uncomfortable, unfriendly and cold feeling at our table.

We asked the waitress, if she could open the drapes just a little bit to bring some light in and so the children could look around a little. The waitress said: no problem. But a few minutes later she returned: I am sorry, but we cannot open the drapes since the sun light bothers the bar tender behind the bar. My fiancée said: but the sun is not even at that direction - it is still on the east side and cannot possibly shine light into the bar area. Besides, opening the drapes just 10-15 inches would be plenty to give us some light, and not bother the bar tender inside. The waitress thought about this for a moment, agreed, and then said: yes, that makes totally sense - let me check again.

About 10 minutes later, the waitress came back, apologizing again, saying: I am sorry, but my manager said we cannot do this. And again, we asked: why? The waitress explained that it was bothering Jeff, the Manager. I then asked if they could at least turn the outside lights on so we can see enough to read the menu. The waitress went back inside, and came back a few minutes later, saying: I am sorry but Jeff said that the lights wouldn't make a difference.

We ended up asking other staff about more light, or about moving us. They all checked and came back, saying that they were told NO by Manager Jeff. Wow - Really?

We usually eat at the Market Tavern at least once a week with 3-6 people, and many of the staff know us and consider us regulars. I alone spend about $400 a month at this restaurant. But apparently Manager Jeff doesn't give a dam about customers like us. And I'd be darned to spend my money on a business that lacks basic customer service skills. I am sorry but we will not go back as long as this Jeff guy is Manager there.

It ended up a good thing as we now enjoy top service and food at the University Hotel brunch. They are happy to accommodate us, and we are not expected to...

After a long day of running errands, me and my fiance decided to try this place out. It was full of people and so since the reviews online says this was a great place and the amount of people in this place. It was a logical choice. We were asked by the lovely host if we wanted to sit by the empty bar stall which we didn't mind because there was a wait on the other tables for 45 mins and we were hungry. I forgot our servers name but she started out great, she made sure my drink had less alcohol in it than I wanted. But everything after that went downhill, it took her 20mins to get our food orders in. At this point a few couples have already sat beside us and the booth that was empty had four men who just sat down 10mins after us, they already had their drinks and appetizers. At first we were being understanding, but when the people that was sitting right beside is, got their appetizers, drinks and we were still waiting on our food, it was 45 mins at this point. We felt like we were forgotten, the young man that was giving out the food was giving everybody's but ours. No one checked up on us, the server couldn't even be bothered to pass by and let us know that our food will be here soon or something. We tried to make eye contact but she would pass us and avoid our eyes and walk the other direction. At this point the men in the booth kn front of us already finished their meals. And it's already been an hour, we still didn't get our food nor anyone telling us what's happening. The couple beside us was also already enjoying their meal and I just noticed that it was because of what we were wearing. I was just in a tshirt and legging with a random jacket. and my fiance was just wearing house clothes with a jacket as well. It felt incredibly rude that we were put aside because of what we were wearing, just because we didn't "look the part". It's really disappointing. The food was amazing, really good. I had the porkchop and my fiance had the skirt steak and it was outstanding. But the service and how we were treated was...